


The Weight of the World

by kiss_me_cassie



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-14
Updated: 2016-08-14
Packaged: 2018-08-08 17:25:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 809
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7766749
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kiss_me_cassie/pseuds/kiss_me_cassie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It was just an ordinary post-mission roadtrip for them. Until it wasn't.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Weight of the World

**Author's Note:**

  * For [inkvoices](https://archiveofourown.org/users/inkvoices/gifts).



> For the be_compromised 2016 Promptathon, based upon this suggestion from Inkvoices:  
> We are not the chosen ones. Natasha and Clint are/feel like they're background characters in someone else's superhero story.

_**In which Rogue meets Wolverine, he rescues her, and they journey together to Charles Xavier's school. There they learn about the horrible experimentation Magneto has been performing on Mutants.** _

It started out like all road trips for them did: Clint declared they were heading out, Natasha insisted she was driving, they argued about it for a while, and then they settled in with Nat behind the wheel and Clint in charge of music and snacks.

It was their thing. They did it after almost every tough mission.

The thing that was unusual this time is what happened barely a few hours into their trip.

They were somewhere in the wilds of New York, a snow storm threatening to start in earnest, when Nat saw a pickup truck on the side of the road, a middle aged man and teenage girl arguing beside it.

"You think we should stop? See if everything is on the up and up?" Clint asked, suddenly very alert.

"I don't know." Natasha peered intently at the scene in front of them as she slowed down. She lowered the passenger window and leaned across Clint. 'Everything ok?"

"Yes, fine," the girl said, a faint twang softening her words. "My _brother_ here is being stubborn."

"If you need a ride," Clint offered, "We're heading north."

Both of them shook their heads. 

"No, thank you," the girl assured them. "We're fine."

"I've got it," the man said.

Clint looked a little skeptical, but gave Natasha a short nod anyhow. With a shrug, she rolled up the window and they kept on driving.

_**In which Wolverine meets Jean Grey and becomes utterly enamored of her, and promises to return for her after he infiltrates Magneto's crew. And in which Rogue meets others like herself and begins to settle into her new life, not knowing that it will soon be interrupted again.** _

The only thing they passed in the next hundred miles was a tall, iron gate with an impressive brick mansion behind it. The plaque on the gate read Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters.

Natasha was starting to feel like they were the last two people on earth. Things were far too rustic out here.

"Just because we're not in a city doesn't make it the wilds, Nat," Clint protested.

Natasha snorted. "The only thing we've seen in the past hour was that pick up truck and this school. It's not normal."

"So? Still doesn't mean we're out in the wilds."

"So I keep expecting a serial killer to show up that we'll need to neutralize. Shit like that doesn't happen in the city. It only happens in places like this."

"You know what does happen cities? Buildings blowing up and falling on you."

She pulled a face at him. "That was different."

"How?"

"It just was."

Their bickering was interrupted by the buzz of Clint's cell phone. He looked at the screen and then flicked it onto speaker.

Coulson's voice came across the line. "Natasha? Clint? Sorry to interupt your get-a-way, but we need you back. There's been a situation."

_**In which Wolverine returns and reunites with Jean, and Rogue learns of Magneto's plan and escapes to make things right and prevent a Mutant war. And in which Wolverine is forced to return to the fray to rescue her.** _

"Do we have a briefing packet?" Nat asked, all business as soon as they arrived back at base. 

"No need, Agents," Coulson said apologetically. "False alarm. The threat's been neutralized. I'm sorry to have called you back for no reason."

Natasha's sharp eyes drilled into his. "Neutralized by who?"

"That's classified and on a need to know basis," Maria said.

"Since when don't we qualify as need to know?" Clint argued.

"Since the threat has been neutralized and we no longer require your services for this particular mission," Fury's voice boomed as he turned from where he stood before a bank of monitors. He fixed Clint with a steady stare. "Do you understand, Agent Barton?"

**_In which the whole world does not blow up thanks to Xavier's quick thinking._ **

"Fuck it," Clint said, turning on his heel. "You have better superheros? Fine. Then we're taking a real vacation. They can save the world while we're gone." 

Fury glared at him. "I did not give you permission to leave, Agent Barton."

Clint ignored him and stalked out the door. Nat watched Fury for a few seconds and then followed Clint.

"We'll see you in a month," she said as she walked out.

"If they weren't the best agents we have…" Fury mumbled.

Hill cleared her throat. "Sir? Should we have told them about the Mutants?"

Coulson answered for him. "No. They'll find out soon enough. In the meantime, Barton wasn't wrong about needing a vacation. Let them enjoy it. When they get back, there'll be plenty for them to do."

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by Patrick Ness' _The Rest Of Us Just Live Here_


End file.
